Human Tendencies
by CaptainInappropriate
Summary: When a soul never wakes up after insertion, the human host's thoughts are all that are present. What happens when the paranoid rebel humans get a hold of this anomaly? R&R please!
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: All characters and ideas coming from The Host by Stephanie Meyers are being used for entertainment only. Original characters are mine.

Title: Human Tendencies

Rating: T

Summary: When a soul never wakes up after insertion, the human host's thoughts are all that are present. What happens when the paranoid rebel humans get a hold of this anomaly?  
(I redid the summary, I realized I wrote it while I was in a hurry and it wasn't very good.)

All the pairings from the book appear in this story. I wanted to flip Wanda & Mel's situation and see what would happen, and was interested in all the funny, inappropriate ways a human with soul eyes would convince rebels she was not a seeker. I'm not sure where this is going, but I do know I want whumpage.

This is my first Host fic... not so sure how this one's gonna go.

**Prologue**

Seven years. It had been seven years since the end of the world. The planet's inhabitants had been taken over by parasitic aliens that were implanted in the back of the human neck, and then wound into the nervous system. The aliens, 'Souls' would be considered benign by a human's sci-fi novel's standards. That was of course, unless you were a human who was around long enough to figure out what was going on.

A Soul would fear a surviving 'rebel' human, just as that human would tell you how awful and violent a 'Seeker'- the souls that hunted down the last of humans- could be.

There were complications. There were some human tendencies that would survive neurological domination and bleed through to the aliens. There were simple things, like what person or 'type' the host body was attracted to, or a tendency towards gluttony. Those problems were worked through with the help of Healers, the Soul version of therapists or counselors.

Then there were bigger problems, ones that couldn't be handled quietly like addictions, violence that went beyond the superficial human habits, and the most offensive to the souls, self mutilation. Those hosts were most often abandoned and the Souls re-implanted elsewhere.

But even worse were the problems that were unique to the rebel adult hosts. Tendencies to keep secrets, or secluding oneself, and of course a resistant host, that could overtake the Soul placed in its body. These were the rarest, and the most dangerous to both parties.

Austin Swanson didn't have any of these problems. She had been implanted with a Soul named 'Spins Glass Colors' from the Bear World just over 2 years ago after fleeing from the Pacific Northwest to Japan with her parents. The implantation was uneventful and there was only one voice in the head of this 24 year-old body when it woke up. Uniquely, Spins Glass Colors had never woken up. The only voice in this host mind was Austin's.

* * *

More tomorrow, methinks.


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: All characters and ideas coming from The Host by Stephanie Meyers are being used for entertainment only. Original characters are mine.

Title: Human Tendencies

Rating: T

Summary: Uniquely, Spins Glass Colors had never woken up. The only voice in this mind was its original, Austin Swanson.

**Chapter 1 **

Austin was still astounded by the silver light pattern that hit the ground a few feet in front of her path as she walked in the summer sun. She was making her way down a row of shops, indulging in free amenities such as manicures, fruit smoothies, hair coloring and facials. Today was her birthday... her human birthday. Her 'soul birthday' or anniversary of her implantation wasn't for several more months. But today, she secretly pampered herself on her 26th birthday.

Annoyed that the sun was making her light blue (and silver) eyes water, Austin pulled the dark sunglasses off her head and over her eyes. Smirking to herself, she made a quick turn into a grocery store and walked around for a while until she found what little hard alcohol the store held.

"Good morning, Miss, may I help you?" An attendant asked from where he was stocking a nearby shelf of fancy crackers.

Austin grinned at his manners. Soul manners were one of the harder things to learn when Austin had to figure out a way to hide the fact that she was a human behind the silver eyes. Now though, she was just as sweet, and even if she was feeling snotty they'd all miss it anyway.

"Good morning. I think I found what I need. Thanks, though." She reached up and grabbed a tall, clear bottle of flavored vodka and smiled at the sight of him looking skeptically at the bottle.

"Are you having a gathering? That is a large bottle of alcohol for such a small body." The soul, Leaves Up, according to his name badge, asked with a concerned expression.

"Don't worry, Leaves Up, I'll drink in moderation." She answered and smiled tightly before heading for the register. To her annoyance, Leaves Up was apparently the only employee around and he followed her up to take inventory of her purchase.

"I apologize for invading that way, Miss. My housemate is a healer and reminds me often of these sorts of things." He smiled politely, and Austin almost missed that the cute-ish boy was flirting.

"I'm not offended." She answered with a falsely light tone she was glad he wouldn't pick up on. "Have a nice day."

The next stop on Austin's birthday trip was the library where she fulfilled her Calling as a records keeper and librarian. Her graduation would have been just a semester after her parents snuck her onto a shipping barge, and she would have had a career in teaching history in front of her. Instead, she lazily maintained the Soul's media and records in what used to be the human libraries all across America.

Austin tried to study alien travel and history, but with no memories or personal experiences from the Soul in the back of her neck it all seemed more fictional than educational. Eventually, bored with 'current' soul information, she rooted around until she found the jackpot- human archives. After working through some human fiction and non fiction that she had always wanted to read, Austin stumbled upon building after building of DVD's. All human media had been eventually discarded, and apparently ended up in a bunch of warehouses in Arizona.

So today, she meandered into a storehouse and walked back out shortly later with some old TV shows and a few movies to entertain her for the rest of her day.

She smiled at a soul passing her at the entrance of her temporary apartment building, and then let herself in to celebrate in solitude.

.-.

Wanderer was a soul. She'd had a successful implantation and was alone in her mind. But that wasn't always the case. She had been one of the few Souls that could still hear her host's thoughts. She had been placed in a rebel human's body, and after living through all the violence, fear and neglect that accompanied the life on the run, the host's mind was resistant enough to remain active after insertion. Through a long power struggle, Wanda eventually partnered with her host Melanie, and found her remaining family hiding in caves in Arizona. Wanda had struggled for nearly a year to convince the cave dwellers that she was not a seeker, and eventually was removed successfully from Melanie's body and placed in another.

Now with her own life and love in the human world, Wanda made trips out into the Soul world to get food and supplies. She was on one of these trips when she incidentally crossed paths with her exact opposite.

"Thank you for your help," Wanda said politely to an attendant at a pharmacy counter, and after taking up the items the employee gave her, she turned and ran smack into a tan, brunette female.

"Oh I'm so sorry," Wanda said, holding out a hand to steady herself and the other Soul. It wasn't really necessary, as Wanda's tiny, blonde body was very nearly too small to even cause the second Soul to waver.

"'s alright." The female grumbled and tried to smile as she adjusted her purse.

Alarms went off in Wanda's head. She was used to humans, could read sarcasm and inflections a little bit better then a typical Soul. This quiet and flushed woman wearing very dark sunglasses inside the store was very clearly one thing, _grumpy_. Souls were never grumpy.

Wanda's eyes instinctually jumped to the front windows of the store, where she could see her van in the parking lot. Four of her humans were waiting for her there. She nearly missed the thoughts of her old host in her head, needing the human's opinion of this new person in front of her.

Instead of inquiring after the strangers health, as most other Souls would, Wanda gave a tight smile and sidestepped the roadblock. Unfortunately Wanda's actions were unexpected enough that the grimacing woman tilted her head and openly watched Wanda slowly walk away. Most of Wanda's instincts screamed at her to leave, but she found herself walking to a nearby row to arbitrarily look at hair products to eavesdrop.

"Hi, I have some issues today," the woman said, a little tersely.

"I'm sorry dear, what can I help you with?" The Soul's versions of pharmacists were called Menders.

"I have an awful headache and I'm tired enough to fall asleep standing."

Wanda's heart rate increased after hearing such a human hyperbole come out of this woman's mouth, and didn't hear the next few exchanges between the two. Trying to convince herself it was a coincidence, Wanda tuned into the rest of the conversation.

"It's nice meet you too, Austin, do you know why your body is so worn down?"

Austin smirked. "I think it's because I've been running a lot lately and not drinking enough afterwards. My legs are kinda crampy, too."

"Well here is No Pain," Austin plopped the tiny paper square in her mouth and after a few moments sighed and relaxed her posture.

"Awake," the healer sprayed a light grapefruit mist in Austin's direction and smiled as she leaned in the inhale it.

"Now," the mender spoke as she put away her supplies. "Those will make you feel better today, but remember that we are only masking symptoms. I'd like for you to concentrate on drinking plenty of water today, and be sure to rest for two days. Light stretching is best, as you won't feel pain of overexertion with the No Pain in your system."

Austin nodded her head and grabbed a bottle of chocolate Health vitamins from under the counter.

The mender scanned the bottle and smiled warmly at her customer. "Please make sure to see a healer if the symptoms aren't gone when the No Pain wears off."

"Thanks." Austin said and turned from the counter. Wanda watched her leave the pharmacy with wide eyes. Austin's face was no longer flush and she had a very wide grin on her face as she pulled some bulky items from her purse and put the vitamins in the bottom. The sunglasses slid down the bridge of her nose a bit and she pushed them back up before Wanda could tell if the sunlight through the windows was enough to fluoresce any silver in her eyes.

By this time, Wanda's paranoid mind had made up an entire scenario in which this was a human woman that posed a huge threat, and instead of finishing the shopping trip she followed Austin outside. Wanda's entire body was buzzing as she followed at a reasonable pace. Her hands were shaking by the time she noticed that Austin was making her way down a row of cars that would take her right by the van.

Wanda's adrenaline left her bloodstream in a nearly painful rush as she watched Austin keep her head down and arrange all the items in her bag to fit and walked right past the van. Letting her posture relax, Wanda sighed and got in the driver's seat and looked around the parking lot for anyone watching her before turning to hand her pharmacy spoils to her human passengers.

The sight behind her was not what she expected, and she gasped, the bag of assorted vitamins and tubes of Heal hitting the floor of the van and scattering.


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: All characters and ideas coming from The Host by Stephanie Meyers are being used for entertainment only. Original characters are mine.

Rating: T

Summary: When a soul never wakes up after insertion, the human host's thoughts are all that are present. What happens when the paranoid rebel humans get a hold of this anomaly?

Human Tendencies

Chapter 2

Austin finally got her vitamins to fit in her bag with the DVDs she planned to return and looked up just before she ran into yet another person that day. She opened her mouth to excuse herself but the sly grin the soul gave her stopped her short.

He was tall, probably close to six and a half feet, and scrawny. Scrawny like she hadn't seen since she herself was starving and on the run from aliens. He wore clean clothes and was clean shaven, but he still looked sickly and strangely translucent.

All kinds of alarms were going off in Austin's head, and most were ones that she hadn't heard since before she had undergone her failed implantation in Japan. "I'm sorry, Sir," she said in a quiet, gentle voice. For some reason, the need to prove she was a normal soul was heavy in her chest.

"No, please, don't apologize," the man said and continued smiling at her. His orange-red hair reflected the sun just as much as his silver eyes and Austin found her self wondering if it made his head extra hot. "I'm Burns, it's nice to meet you. And you are?"

"Nice to meet you too, Burns, I haven't seen many Souls from the Fire World." She deflected and caught the sight of the crosswalk flashing that she had ten seconds to cross. "Oh, if you'll excuse me-"

She was interrupted by tiny lavender scented droplets of Sleep mist, a cold shock on her skin in the Arizona heat, and she was glad to be out before her head bounced off the pavement.

* * *

Wanda stared at the sight in the back of the van without being able to formulate a question to find out how this had happened. Ian was being restrained by Jared, and his violent expression changed quickly to one of concern when he met Wanda's eyes. Brandt was on the direct opposite side of the van from Ian, holding his hands to his face, blood leaking through his fingers presumably from his nose. He was smashing some of the groceries Wanda had previously collected, and one leg was extended out with the foot pressing to Ian's knee to help keep him back. Lastly, Melanie was sitting next to Ian and Jared, a fist full of Ian's shirt with the other palm held out towards Brandt.

"What is going on!" Wanda screeched, watching Ian try to pull out of Jared's grip to get to her.

"Didn't you see him?" Ian asked, finally getting himself untangled from everyone's restraint to fumble his way up to Wanda. He put his hand on her pale, tiny cheek and she was shocked to feel him trembling. "I thought he was after you."

Wanda was still confused. She had been afraid of the suspicious girl in the store, but hadn't noticed any male. Was Ian being jealous?

"Who are you talking about?" Wanda asked, placing her hand over his for just a moment before pushing him back away from the exposure of the front seat.

"Burns," Melanie answered for Ian, pulling him back by his t-shirt. "He's been right behind you the entire time, Ian wanted to go get you but _obviously _that would be stupid, so Brandt tried to hold him back and got his nose broken."

Wanda gaped at first Ian, then Brandt, who was now wiping his face off on his sleeve. Violence still twisted her stomach into knots, and she shot a glare back to Ian and was about to give him a piece of her mind until she registered the beginning of Mel's explanation. "Burns?" Wanda turned around and tried to spot the red-head somewhere out in the sunlight. She hadn't been especially worried about anyone behind her seeming as how she was so concerned with who was in front of her.

"Yes, Burns." Jared answered, also smoothing out his shirt and trying to put the back of the van back in order. "I don't know the chances that they're in this part of Arizona at the same time as us, but I'd be willing to bed they're slim."

"Well he didn't say anything." Wanda said, turning back to her stowaways.

"Didn't _do _anything, either," Brandt growled, still glaring at Ian with a deep scowl.

"I didn't see him," Wanda said quietly, and let her posture relax and gaze become distant as she though about the brunette in the store again, Austin.

"What are you thinking about?" Ian asked, moving up towards her again. "What happened?" His question came out harsher than he intended, but for once Wanda didn't notice.

"There was a girl in there," Wanda started, still not completely focused on what she was saying. "She was... different. She was strange. She was... grumpy."

"So?" Brandt asked without looking up from where he was looking for a clean shirt. Souls would react poorly to the blood on the sleeves of his shirt if they stopped at a hotel.

"So, Souls aren't grumpy." Mel answered for him, having firsthand knowledge of the temperament of the aliens that now controlled their planet. "Ever."

"She was wearing really dark sunglasses inside, but she didn't act like a human. Not entirely, anyway. She wasn't nervous or fidgety, she was just grumpy." Wanda continued without acknowledging the interruption. "She was carrying something weird, too."

Ian had his hand on her face again and she finally moved her silver-gray eyes from staring at nothing to look into his dark blues. "What was she carrying?" He asked gently, worried about her reaction, or non-reaction to knowing that another native soul was following her around.

"Movies," Wanda answered, and the humans missed the importance of the word for a few moments, until she added, "Human movies."

* * *

Austin hadn't felt the effects of Sleep and Still since she had panicked after being caught by the aliens. Her tiny family, just her and her parents, had been part of a large group of humans that found solace on a barge traveling indirectly from Washington to Japan. They had discovered the invasion with the bulk of the population, too late to do anything about it, but early enough to run. Unfortunately the ship was a trap, a revelation made only when the vessel was in the middle of international waters, too far out and too cold to jump ship and escape.

Austin, like most of the population of the world, only knew that the aliens were changing the humans into some kind of droid and erasing their identity. It had at first reminded her of archaic science fiction movies, and didn't really seem like real-life to her. The entire refugee group was taken by surprised by the aerosolized lavender smell that at first smelled like a posh restroom, but before anyone could crack a joke about it they were asleep. No one woke up themselves. Austin had become aware of her surroundings, finding her self feeling fairly normal, well rested even, and sat up in her bed several hours after everyone else. She got up and made her way out of the ship's infirmary, and eventually found her way back to the mess hall where they had all been staying.

Instead of finding the huddled mass of scared humans, she found lines and lines of quiet, smiling bodies whose eyes glinted silver each time the swinging light so far above them in the dark room hit their faces. She was screaming before she knew what was happening, the blood rushing though her ears overpowering the sound of her own fear. The lavender spray hit her again- why did she never see that coming?

The second time she woke she sat up screaming and tried to fight off anyone who tried to help her. Somewhere in her foggy brain she knew there was nowhere to go, but at the same time she still believed she would be killed. That time, only minutes after waking, a warm spray that tasted almost as metallic as blood stopped her limbs from flailing instantly. It was only after she had been laid down in a comfortable position that she realized she was only screaming in her head. She couldn't move, couldn't blink and couldn't understand why. Before the lavender mist hit her one last time, she saw two white bottles of Still and Sleep in the hands of her enemies.

The final time she woke up, Austin held stalk still and waited until someone, something, noticed she was awake. "It's always hardest in the beginning," a young sailor had said to her, she'd know him later as her first Healer. "It's remembering the end that is the most painful. Rest assured, young soul, the future will be easy."

The rest of the month long voyage had been spent with Austin sitting nervously next to what used to be her parents, listening to the Healers amongst them teaching each soul about the fragility of the human body and the wonder that was scent, emotion, and bonding in these 'hosts'. Quick to learn, Austin became a soft spoken, mild tempered model citizen, and walked off the ship in Japan as a soul in a compliant human body.

Since then, two years ago, Austin hadn't been in contact with Sleep spray. Plenty of No Pain after running, or like this morning, to beat a hangover, Heal, Clean Health, and on and on with the normal, healthy supplements the aliens had brought with them. Three doses of the spray were enough to remember, and Austin knew that if she had only been hit with the Sleep she'd be able to get up and start swinging, as she desperately wanted to do now. But no, they must have used the Still, too. She couldn't remember the taste of it, but she couldn't move.

Whoever that red-haired guy was, he was clearly bad news.


End file.
